Google Pixel 7a vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Google Pixel 7a

Google

8.4

Best mid-range phone of 2023 — flagship cameras at $499

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Samsung

8.4

Best Android, weakest battery story

Google Pixel 7a

What Reviewers Agree On

Same Tensor G2 chip as the Pixel 7 + 8GB RAM — no performance compromise vs the flagship
First A-series Pixel with wireless charging (7.5W Qi) and a 90Hz display
64MP main + 13MP ultrawide cameras — meaningful upgrade over the 7a's 12MP predecessor, near-flagship quality
Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone, Live Translate) trickle down at $499
6.1" compact OLED in aluminum frame at 193g — pocketable and well-built
$499 starting was a $50 increase over Pixel 6a — strong value vs $599 Pixel 7

Pros & Cons

Google Pixel 7a

Pros

Same Tensor G2 chip as the Pixel 7 + 8GB RAM — no performance compromise vs the flagship
First A-series Pixel with wireless charging (7.5W Qi) and a 90Hz display
64MP main + 13MP ultrawide cameras — meaningful upgrade over the 7a's 12MP predecessor, near-flagship quality
Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone, Live Translate) trickle down at $499
6.1" compact OLED in aluminum frame at 193g — pocketable and well-built

Detailed Comparison

Cameras

Google Pixel 7a

64MP main (new) + 13MP ultrawide camera duo with Tensor G2 processing — best cameras at this price point in 2023. Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone) trickle down at $499.

Cameras: 64MP main (f/1.89, OIS), 13MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 13MP selfie — meaningful upgrade over Pixel 6a's 12MP main.
Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone, Night Sight, Live Translate) all included — flagship Pixel software at $499.
Camera quality near-identical to Pixel 7 in daylight; Pixel 7's larger sensor wins slightly in low light.
No telephoto — Super Res Zoom (digital upscaling on 64MP sensor) substitutes; works up to 8x but quality drops past 2-3x.

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Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

What Reviewers Agree On

Privacy Display is the standout new feature — a hardware-level pixel filter that works as advertised and reviewers actually used in daily life on planes, transit, and offices
Wider f/1.4 main and f/2.9 5x telephoto apertures produce visibly brighter, less-noisy low-light photos versus the S25 Ultra without needing AI tricks
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is the fastest mobile chip on the market — top-of-charts Geekbench multi-core (~10,700–11,240) and 3DMark Wild Life scores beat iPhone 17 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL
60W wired charging is a real, useful jump — 0–50% in 18-19 minutes, 0–75% in roughly 30 minutes, full charge in 47–53 minutes
Build quality is best-in-class — Gorilla Armor 2 on the front, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 back, IP68, slimmer 7.9mm body and 214g weight feel materially nicer in hand than the S25 Ultra
Seven years of OS + security updates remain a class-leading software promise, taking the phone into 2033
Super Steady Horizon Lock video stabilization is one of the most impressive smartphone-camera tricks of 2026 — keeps footage level no matter how you rotate the phone

Deal Breakers

Still no built-in Qi2 magnets — every other 2026 flagship has them, full 25W wireless charging requires a magnetic case
Same 5,000 mAh battery for the seventh straight Ultra — battery life is fine for one day but trails OnePlus 15 (7,300 mAh) and Oppo Find X9 Pro (7,500 mAh) by hours
S Pen still has no Bluetooth — the remote-trigger trick that made the Note line special remains dead three years in
$1,300 starting price plus aggressive 512GB ($1,499) and 1TB ($1,799) hikes — premium storage now costs $80–$140 more than the S25 Ultra did
The 10MP 3x telephoto is the same dated sensor Samsung's used since 2024 and the only zoom range where image quality visibly sags

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Pros

Privacy Display is the standout new feature — a hardware-level pixel filter that works as advertised and reviewers actually used in daily life on planes, transit, and offices
Wider f/1.4 main and f/2.9 5x telephoto apertures produce visibly brighter, less-noisy low-light photos versus the S25 Ultra without needing AI tricks
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is the fastest mobile chip on the market — top-of-charts Geekbench multi-core (~10,700–11,240) and 3DMark Wild Life scores beat iPhone 17 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL
60W wired charging is a real, useful jump — 0–50% in 18-19 minutes, 0–75% in roughly 30 minutes, full charge in 47–53 minutes
Build quality is best-in-class — Gorilla Armor 2 on the front, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 back, IP68, slimmer 7.9mm body and 214g weight feel materially nicer in hand than the S25 Ultra
Seven years of OS + security updates remain a class-leading software promise, taking the phone into 2033
Super Steady Horizon Lock video stabilization is one of the most impressive smartphone-camera tricks of 2026 — keeps footage level no matter how you rotate the phone

Cons

Still no built-in Qi2 magnets — every other 2026 flagship has them, full 25W wireless charging requires a magnetic case
Same 5,000 mAh battery for the seventh straight Ultra — battery life is fine for one day but trails OnePlus 15 (7,300 mAh) and Oppo Find X9 Pro (7,500 mAh) by hours
S Pen still has no Bluetooth — the remote-trigger trick that made the Note line special remains dead three years in
$1,300 starting price plus aggressive 512GB ($1,499) and 1TB ($1,799) hikes — premium storage now costs $80–$140 more than the S25 Ultra did
The 10MP 3x telephoto is the same dated sensor Samsung's used since 2024 and the only zoom range where image quality visibly sags

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Same sensors as the S25 Ultra (200MP main 1/1.3in, 50MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto, 50MP 5x periscope, 12MP selfie) but the main and 5x get wider apertures (f/1.4 from f/1.7; f/2.9 from f/3.4). Reviewers agree the low-light gain is real and visible without leaning on AI. New software tricks: APV codec for near-lossless 1080p/4K video, Horizon Lock super-stabilization, and an expanded Photo Assist with generative editing. The unloved 10MP 3x sensor and AI-aggressive 30x+ zoom are the recurring weak points.

200MP main with new f/1.4 aperture lets the sensor 'collect more light, resulting in quicker exposures with less motion blur' — Verge confirms lower ISO and faster shutter speeds than the S25 Ultra in side-by-side testing
Forbes' two-week test on low-light cat photos found 'much more vivid colors' and 'sharper details with more enhanced shadows' versus the S25 Ultra — 'the difference feels truly drastic'
Engadget's challenging backlit Grogu shot showed the S26 Ultra outperform a Pixel 10 Pro on subject exposure — 'managed to make an already great main camera just a bit better'
10MP 3x telephoto is dated and the only zoom range where image quality visibly sags — Trusted Reviews calls it 'particularly dated' compared to Oppo's 200MP zoom in the Find X9 Pro
Ars Technica notes shots 'tend to look a bit overprocessed in the 3x to 4.9x zoom range' because the 10MP sensor can't keep up between the 1x and 5x optical primes
5x periscope with the new top-mounted-lens design produces a more pleasant bokeh and brighter low-light shots, though minimum focal distance extends about half to 52cm
Minimum focus distance on the main camera 'definitely got worse' — MKBHD says macro mode survives but close-up subject sharpness is a noticeable downgrade
Horizon Lock super-stabilization is 'one of the best executions we've seen' — keeps video level even when you flip the phone upside down, though capped at 4K
APV codec lets you record near-lossless 1080p/4K log video with external-storage support — Ars calls it 'just about every feature you could want' for serious mobile video
Android Authority finds AI zoom degradation kicks in around 30x — 'a fake sharpness… almost like rendered in a video game' — and the 100x mode is essentially marketing
Color tuning has been dialled down this year — Trusted Reviews says Samsung 'avoided the overly-green and red hues of previous flagships for something a little more neutral'
Forbes contributor Paul Monckton frames the camera as '5x better but 3x worse' — flagship aperture upgrades on the main and periscope, but the 3x telephoto sensor stagnates

Battery & Charging

Google Pixel 7a

4,385mAh battery + Tensor G2 inefficiency = mediocre all-day life. 18W wired charging is slow. FIRST A-series Pixel to support wireless charging (7.5W Qi).

4,385mAh battery — small for a 2023 phone with a power-hungry Tensor G2 chip.
Real-world: ~5 hours of SOT typical, all-day for moderate use but often needing a top-up by evening — most-flagged Pixel 7a complaint.
18W wired charging — slow by 2023 standards. 0-50% in ~30 min, full in ~1h30m.
FIRST A-series Pixel with wireless charging — 7.5W Qi. Not flagship-fast but a meaningful feature add at $499.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

The S26 Ultra inherits the same 5,000 mAh capacity Samsung's used since the S20 Ultra — six years unchanged — but 60W wired charging is genuinely faster and Qi 2.2 25W wireless is overdue. Reviewers split: most say battery life is 'fine' but no longer flagship in a market where OnePlus 15 ships with 7,300 mAh and Oppo Find X9 Pro packs 7,500 mAh. Charging speeds are now a competitive feature, not a weakness.

Same 5,000 mAh battery as the S25 Ultra, S24 Ultra, S23 Ultra, S22 Ultra, S21 Ultra and S20 Ultra — 9to5Google calls this 'easily the most egregious spec Samsung hasn't changed'
Phone Arena's real-world diary measured average 100% screen time at just 6 hours 1 minute — 'just not very impressive' next to iPhone 17 Pro Max's nearly 9 hours on the same test
Engadget's local video rundown measured 30 hours 3 minutes — only ~30 minutes longer than the S25 Ultra; chip efficiency gains, not capacity, are doing the work
60W wired charging: 0-50% in 18-19 minutes, 0-75% in 30 minutes, 0-100% in 47-53 minutes across multiple independent tests
Mrwhosetheboss' charging test confirmed 47 minutes 0-100% versus 1 hour 19 minutes for the iPhone 17 Pro Max — a 32-minute charging gap in Samsung's favor
Wireless charging upgraded to Qi 2.2 25W but built-in Qi2 magnets are still missing — Ars Technica says you 'can add that functionality back in by choosing the right case, but that's not a very premium experience'